BIOGRAPHY - page 6
After facing so many cosmic threats, the Avengers resolved to prevent any further by building a space based watch station. Quasar headlined the project, building the station in the solar system’s asteroid belt and administering it himself with help from a rotating roster of Avengers. [Avengers (3rd series) #38]
It wasn’t long before Wendell’s role manning the watch station pulled him into action. When he detected a giant, alien pyramid containing an ancient evil, he tracked it on its path to Earth and aided the Avengers in defeating its inhabitants. Immediately after, he was pulled into the Avengers’ battle against Kang’s invasion of Earth. Surprisingly, Wendell found himself fighting alongside his old enemy the Presence, as the Avengers and their allies took down Kang. [Avengers (3rd series) #47-52]
During this time, Wendell also became the Fantastic Four’s “go to” guy for all things cosmic. First, he assisted the Fantastic Four in helping to face the forces of the cosmic villain Abraxas. Later, he helped them save Johnny Storm from Galactus’ clutches – first by providing transport, then by fighting the Devourer one on one. [Fantastic Four (3rd series) #46, #520-523]
Quasar faced his greatest challenge as Protector of the Universe when the massive and unrelenting Annihilation Wave, lead by Annihilus, left a path of destruction across the universe. Doing his best to help the survivors, Quasar was aiding a mass evacuation of the planet Nycos Aristedes when he crossed paths with fellow Earth hero Nova and his companion, Drax. While Quasar was happy to see Nova, he had his reservations about Drax, and warned his friend about spending too long with the former Destroyer.
While Quasar’s main concern was helping protect the refugees, Nova wanted to take the fight to the Annihilation Wave. The choice was taken out of their hands, however, when the Annihilation Wave arrived at their location. With eighteen million refugees to evacuate, the pair raced into space to buy time for their escape. Realizing they needed to cut off the head of the Annihilation Wave, the trio took the fight to Annihilus. Unfortunately, the alien proved too much for them and Annihilus ensnared Wendell in his clutches, feeding off the man’s energy until he crumbled into dust. [Annihilation: Nova #3-4]
With Quasar dead, Annihilus claimed the Quantum Bands, but even their power was not enough to bring victory to the cosmic nihilist. During the final battle of the Annihilation War, Annihilus was killed and the bands shifted to Phyla Vell, daughter of Captain Mar-Vell. Through her mastery of the Quantum Bands, Phyla learned that Quasar’s spirit remained within the Quantum Bands themselves, battling the spirit of Annihilus. In order to banish the evil that was Annihilus from the Quantum Bands, Wendell summoned enough energy to contact Phyla and asked her to fill herself with hope and love, the opposite of Annihilus. Before departing into the void, dragging Annihilus’ spirit with him, Wendell told Phyla she would make a great Quasar. [Annihilation #6, Annihilation Conquest: Quasar #4]
Despite his sacrifice, Quasar’s essence endured and made its way to the Negative Zone, where it was extracted by Project PEGASUS. Unaware of its true nature, the think tank’s scientists stored the essence inside a quantum flask for later study. Soon after, the facility came under threat from Skrull forces as part of their Secret Invasion of Earth. Nova arrived to rescue the base and, believing the quantum flask to be a potential weapon, used the Xandarian Worldmind to unlock it. This released Wendell from the flask like a genie from a bottle, albeit in a new, quantum energy form. The former security chief for the Project helped Nova defend his old home, utilizing some newfound transformational abilities during the fight. At the climax of the battle, Quasar unleashed a massive blast of energy, which destroyed the Skrull forces but ultimately depleted him, causing him to return to the flask to recharge. [Nova (4th series) #17-18]
It wasn’t long before Wendell was able to reform himself again. Sensing that Phyla-Vell, the current wielder of the Quantum Bands, had died, Wendell rushed to the realm of Oblivion to face 
her killer; his old enemy Maelstrom. Though Wendell managed to surprise the villain, Maelstrom now wielded the Quantum Bands and was easily able to control Quasar’s own energy form. Thanks to the timely intervention of Drax, however, Maelstrom’s wrists were severed, allowing the bands to transfer to Wendell. When Phyla was resurrected, Wendell offered to return the bands to her. However she refused, claiming Wendell was the one true Quasar. [Guardians of the Galaxy (2nd series) #12]
Almost immediately after receiving the Quantum Bands, Quasar handed them over to another. Richard Rider had recently lost the Nova Force, having been abandoned by the insane Xandarian Worldmind, and was dying because of it. Wendell gave him the bands, curing Rider of his ailment and imbuing him with the powers of Quasar. A side effect of this, though, was that Wendell was reduced to essentially a ghost. Richard was immensely grateful for this gift and together the pair gave chase to the Worldmind. In an interesting twist, the Worldmind had taken control of Ego the Living Planet as its new host and had then Ego in turn corrupted the Worldmind. Presumably, Ego had reformed after Quasar, his former “prison,” had been killed. Wendell guided Rider in the use of the bands, successfully helping him to purge Ego from the Worldmind. Upon receiving the Nova Force once more, Rider returned the Quantum Bands to Quasar. While Nova wanted him to stay and help him rebuild the Nova Corp, Wendell declined, instead opting to head out into space and figure out his new energy form. [Nova (4th series) #23-25]
At the culmination of the Kree/Shi’ar War, a massive explosion resulted in a giant tear in dimensional space and time known as the Fault. As an energy being, Quasar volunteered to enter the Fault and investigate. Upon entering, however, the strange energies of the Fault altered his energy form into a physical state, with a new costume to boot. On the other side of the Fault, he discovered a ravaged Earth and a corrupt Avengers that served the Many-Angled Ones, fearsome and gigantic deities who had filled their universe and hungered to spread. These evil Avengers captured Quasar and planned to track his energy trail back to his universe, to feed their dark masters. [Realm of Kings #1]
Quasar, however, managed to escape and fled into the Fault, desperate to warn his universe of the oncoming threat. Luckily, he intercepted an exploratory expedition of Imperial Guard and Starjammers. By combining his quantum energies with Oracle’s psychic powers, they were able to get a message to Shi’ar leader Gladiator through the M’Kraan Crystal. Together with the Imperial Guard, Quasar fought off the cancerously mutated X-Men from that universe and escaped the Fault to help warn the Galactic Council of the oncoming invasion from the “Cancerverse.” [Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard #3-5]
With the arrival of the Cancerverse’s forces, Quasar fought alongside not only Nova but the assembled might of their universe against the deadly threat. The enemy proved too powerful, however, and Nova proposed they lead a strike team against the Cancerverse force’s leader, Captain Mar-Vell. Alongside Nova, Quasar joined the universe’s heaviest hitters, Gladiator, Silver Surfer, Beta Ray Bill and Ronan, against the corrupt Mar-Vell’s forces. While they fought intensely 
and saved the enemy’s prisoners, Mar-Vell and his cronies escaped back to the Cancerverse. As Mar-Vell’s target, Thanos, was actually in the Cancerverse, Nova gave chase. Quasar wanted to go with him but Nova refused, and instead gave him command of his Nova Corps recruits and a portion of the Nova Force. Soon after, however, Nova, was trapped in the Cancerverse after the fall of the enemy’s forces, cutting Quasar off from the Nova Force. Together with his friends and allies, he mourned the loss of those fallen during the invasion. [The Thanos Imperative: Ignition, The Thanos Imperative #1-6]
While the team of powerful, cosmic heroes formed during the invasion was meant to be a one-time thing, Cosmo, security chief for Knowhere and former Guardian of the Galaxy, had other ideas. He convinced each of the surviving members, including Quasar, to join together as a regular team known as the Annihilators. Partly because of his recent failure against Annihilus, Wendell felt inadequate amongst these cosmic allies. Despite this, he bravely fought on to help save both the Spaceknights and the Dire Wraiths, while awkwardly dodging the Spaceknight Ikon’s flirtations. When the Annihilators had to defend the Dire Wraith’s against Immortus’ forces, Quasar found his confidence and confronted the supervillain. Immortus agreed to call off his attack, not because of Wendell’s threats but because he knew Wendell needed to live for a key event in the future. [Annihilators #1-4]
The Annihilator’s next mission next brought Quasar into conflict with his old team, the Avengers. The Universal Church of Truth had established a secret base in Colorado disguised as an estate, with the purpose of resurrecting the Magus. Rushing to stop the Church left Quasar with no time to notify his colleagues on Earth. Unfortunately, because it appeared they were attacking innocents, Wendell’s team was soon brought into conflict with the Avengers. The teams quickly put aside their differences when the Magus spread his consciousness across North America but 
Quasar then had to contend with his Annihilators teammates’ desire to solve the conflict by simply destroying the entire continent. Feeling protective of his planet but understanding the galactic consequences if they failed, Quasar was stuck between both teams. Fortunately, his comrades managed to find an alternative, trapping the Magus. While Earth wished to claim the Magus as their prisoner, Wendell had to stand up to his hero, Captain America, and take custody of the Magus. Captain America expressed concern over Quasar’s choice of friends, worried he might forget where to draw the line. Wendell simply replied that, while on this team, he was the line. [Annihilators: Earthfall #1-4]
Eventually, wielding the Quantum Bands started to take a toll on Wendell and he began to lose control of the vast powers they contained. He returned to Earth and removed the Quantum Bands, handing them over to SHIELD to protect them from everyone, even himself. With SHIELD’s help, 
Wendell took on a new identity at their Pleasant Hill facility, a clandestine prison for supervillains disguised as the suburbs. When the prisoners ran riot under Baron Zemo and threatened the facility, Wendell realized he had to act. However, instead of taking on the mantle of Quasar himself, he bestowed the Quantum Bands upon young SHIELD agent Avril Kincaid. Avril played a key role in defeating Zemo and, following this, Wendell took her under his wing, training her to become the new Quasar. [Assault on Pleasant Hill Omega #1]